Monday, 17 September 2012

St. George Ashe 1658-1718 : Bishop of Derry 1717-1718

St. George Ashe was born in County Roscommon and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He became a fellow of the College in 1679 and then professor of Mathematics. During the political unrest of James II reign, he left Ireland and became Chaplain and Secretary to Lord Paget, Ambassador to William III at the Court of Vienna. He returned to Ireland and became Provost of the College in 1692. At Trinity, Ashe together with William Molyneux were prominent members of the Dublin Philosophical Society which had been established in the early 1680's. It was a forum were new ideas and especially those which reflected the growth of natural science and philosophy could be debated and discussed. In 1686, for instance, Ashe read a paper to the Society outlining his invention of a new solid fuel which consisted of a combination of clay and coal dust. In addition, Ashe became a college tutor to Jonathan Swift at Trinity. It proved to be the beginning of a lifelong friendship, and the academic is to have married Swift and Hester Johnson (Stella) when he was Bishop of Clogher.

Ashe was to hold three bishoprics during his lifetime:

Cloyne, 1695;Clogher,1697, where he spent £900 on improving the episcopal palace and lands;

Derry, 1717. He had been offered the archbishopric of Tuam on the death of John Vesey in 1716, but refused on account of his inadequate income. Archbishop King censured him for his absenteeism when he was Bishop of Clogher. Writing in September 1714, the Archbishop urged him to reform his ways:

"Your friends murmur at your deserting them, and your enemies excuse their negligence by your absence; and the common enemies of the church conclude that bishops are not necessary, since they can be so long spared. I, therefore, entreat you to think of coming home as soon as possible."

Ashe died in Dublin on the 27th February 1718 and left his mathematical books to Trinity College, Dublin. Joseph Addison, the Whig secretary of state, commiserated with Swift over the death of Ashe. He was a man, Addison remarked, "who has scare left behind him his equal in humanity, agreeable conversation, and all kinds of learning".

No comments:

Post a Comment

St. Columba

St. Canice

St. Adamnan (Eunan)

St. Fiacra

Lived at some time in the 7th century. He came from Conwall, near Letterkenny. He went to Paris, where he set up hospices for the sick and poor. He used to gather them up in the streets and take them to his hospices in a rickshaw-like vehicle. Thus, to this day, one French word for taxi is Fiacre.

James Ussher (1581 – 1656)

Archbishop of Armagh. Translated from Meath; nominated 29 January 1625; by letters patent 21 March 1625; also Bishop of Carlisle 1641-1656; died 21 March 1656.

John Bramhall (1594 – 25 June 1663)

Archbishop of Armagh, Anglican theologian and apologist.

Michael Boyle, the younger (1609–1702)

Boyle became privy councillor in Ireland, and was appointed Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross. In 1675 Boyle was promoted from the see of Dublin to that of Armagh.

Narcissus Marsh (1638 – 2 November 1713)

Successively Church of Ireland Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, Archbishop of Cashel, Archbishop of Dublin and Archbishop of Armagh.

Hugh Boulter (4 January 1672 – 27 September 1742)

Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh, the Primate of All Ireland, from 1724 until his death.

John Hoadly (1678–1746)

Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin from 1727 to 1730 and as Archbishop of Dublin from 1730 to 1742 and Archbishop of Armagh from 1742 until his death.

George Stone (1708 – 19 December 1764)

In 1733 Stone was made Dean of Ferns, and in the following year he exchanged this deanery for that of Derry. In 1740 he became Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, in 1743 Bishop of Kildare, in 1745 Bishop of Derry, and in 1747 Archbishop of Armagh. During the two years that he occupied the See of Kildare he was also Dean of Christ Church, Dublin.

Richard Robinson, 1st Baron Rokeby (1708–1794)

Robinson came to Ireland as chaplain to the Duke of Dorset in 1751. He was translated from the See of Kildare to the Archbishopric of Armagh in 1765.

The Most Reverend William Stuart PC, D.D. (1755–1822)

Bishop of St David's in Wales from 1794 and 1800 and then Archbishop of Armagh in Ireland from 1800 to his death.

The Most Rev. William Alexander (1824-1911)

After holding several livings in Ireland he was made bishop of Derry and Raphoe in 1867, to which see he was nominated on 27 July and consecrated on 6 October 1867. He was the last bishop of Ireland to sit in the Westminster House of Lords before the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1871 by the Irish Church Act 1869. On 25 February 1896 he translated to become Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.

The Rt Rev Robert Clayton (1695–1758)

In 1735 he was translated to the diocese of Cork and Ross, and in 1745 to the diocese of Clogher.

The Rt Rev George Berkeley (1685-1753)

Bishop of Cloyne.

The Rt Rev William Pakenham Walsh, DD, MA (1820-1902)

Bishop of Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin

Most Reverend Charles Frederick D'Arcy (1859–1938), MA, DD, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All

Right Reverend Dr Charles T. P. Grierson (1857–1935), Bishop of Down and Dromore

The Rt Rev Benjamin Hoadly (1676-1761)

Bishop of Bangor, Hereford, Salisbury, and Winchester.

The Rt Rev John Thomas (1696-1781)

Bishop of Peterborough 1747, and was made preceptor to the future George III, then Prince of Wales, in 1752. In 1757 be became Bishop of Salisbury, and in 1761 Bishop of Winchester

Brownlow North (1741-1820)

Dean of Canterbury (1770–1771), Bishop of Lichfield in 1771, Bishop of Worcester in 1774, and Bishop of Winchester in 1781.

Richard Hurd (1720-1808)

Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry and Worcester

James Cornwallis, 4th Earl Cornwallis

Rector of Ickham from 1769–73, of Addisham-with-Staple from 1770–81, of Newington in 1770, Prebendary of Westminster Abbey from 1770–85, Vicar of Wrotham from 1771–85, Rector of Boughton Malherbe from 1773–85 and Dean of Canterbury from 1775-81. In 1781 he was appointed Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry and was Dean of Windsor from 1791–94 and Dean of Durham from 1794 before dying in office in 1824.